An example of article transport facilities such as one described above is described in JP Publication of Application No. H07-172570 (Patent Document 1). In the article transport facility of Patent Document 1, a movable guide portion of each guide rail includes a holding device (an electromagnet). And by causing the holding device to generate an operating force by supplying electric power to it, the movable guide portion is held in a guiding position by the operating force of the holding device. Here, the guiding position is a position in which the movable guide portion is adjacent to, and lined up with, a fixed guide portion.
And when a fire door needs to be closed, each movable guide portion is caused to be moved under its own weight to an out-of-the-way position for allowing passage of a fire door, by releasing the holding action by the holding device on the movable guide portion by removing the operating force of the holding device by stopping the supplying of the electric power to the holding device. As such, by arranging the movable guide portion to be moved from the guide position to the out-of-the-way position under its own weight by stopping the supplying of electric power to the electromagnet, the movable guide portion of the guide rail can be moved to its out-of-the-way position even if there is a power outage when a fire breaks out and the fire door needs to be closed.